


in the light of the emerald star

by frillshark



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Slight Hurt/Comfort, Stargazing, doug deserved more character development and thats that on that, so we back in the mine, twdgotpchallenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-13
Updated: 2020-02-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22687408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frillshark/pseuds/frillshark
Summary: Prompt 10 - stargazingWhile stuck on watch duty, Lee and Doug hang out under the stars.
Relationships: Lee Everett/Doug
Comments: 12
Kudos: 20





	in the light of the emerald star

**Author's Note:**

> I return with a late-night conversation fic...2!  
> This is for stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale's otp prompt challenge! yall know I couldn't resist doing something for it

The forest came alive at night.

At least, that’s what it seemed like, with the trilling of frogs and the chirping of crickets and the buzzing of cicadas leaving the air heavy with background noise. It was almost enough to make Lee believe that it was a normal autumn night until the inevitable walker growl punctuated the sounds of the forest, and even that wasn’t much of anything anymore.

Staring into the dark woods for hours on end with almost nothing but a single flashlight by his side was agonizingly monotonous. Lee kept finding himself on the verge of drifting off, just to get a respite from the boredom of it all. It was hard to be tense when the last time anything of note had happened on watch was almost a week ago, when a walker had gotten stuck on the barbed fence surrounding the motel—in the daytime, no less.

Just as he was willing himself to stay alert for the tenth time that night, the sudden, sharp sound of footsteps filled the air. Lee immediately snapped to attention, tightening his hold on the metallic hunting rifle that rested in his lap. He scanned the forest below with sharp eyes, as he began to realize just how exposed the top of the RV was-

The sound of plastic cluttering to the ground caught him off guard, and the apprehension quickly turned to confusion. 

“Aw, come on-“

Lee relaxed upon recognizing that familiar voice. He leaned out over the edge of the RV to find Doug struggling to fold one of the lawn chairs scattered around the motel’s parking lot quietly. Clearing his throat to catch his attention, Lee called out “... Need a hand down there?”

Doug jumped a little before looking up sheepishly. “Oh. Uh, hey Lee,” For a moment, he stood awkwardly with the half-folded chair in his hands before hesitantly adding “You mind if I join you out here tonight?”

He couldn’t help the smile that flickered across his face as he got up to precariously crouch over the edge of the RV. “Here, let me help you with the chair. Climb on up, Doug.”

Down on the pavement, he heard Doug breathe a sigh of relief before lifting the chair to Lee and clambering up the rattling ladder attached to the RV. By the time he’d made it to the top, Lee had already set the folding chair up next to him. Doug let out a quiet “Thanks, Lee,” before taking a seat in silence.

Now that he was actually sitting next to him, though, Lee noticed just how troubled Doug seemed. There was a tired, agitated look to him, and showing up without warning in the middle of the night like this was unusual in itself. 

Of course, it wasn’t like this was the first time this kind of thing had happened either, but a little worry wouldn’t hurt. 

“Everything alright?” He asked gently, knowing that if he didn’t Doug would never say a thing—he tended to just think and think and keep his worries to himself. In a way, it was almost a little concerning how often he bottled things up.

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine,” his words were wobbly, as if he was trying to shake something off. “I just couldn’t sleep, so I went to get some fresh air, y’know?” Doug flashed him a crooked half-smile that he could just barely see in the dim glow of his flashlight, which lay on the roof of the RV. “And, uh, you being out here was an added bonus.”

Lee couldn’t help but laugh a little. “Alright, I see how it is. It’s not like I tell you when I’m gonna be on watch or anything.” 

The two of them went quiet. At least now Doug seemed to be slightly more at ease, which was the one thing that prevented any further questions about his well-being. It was only after a long, long pause that he suddenly spoke up with “I mean, you’re really good at it.”

Looking over curiously, Lee asked “Good at what?”

“You know,” there was a hint of sheepishness to his voice as Doug absentmindedly tugged at the collar of his jacket. “You just, um, you do a  _ lot _ around here. Supply runs, watch duty, fortification and the like,” by the time he glanced back over to meet Lee’s eyes, there was a look of unabashed affection on his face. “And you’re always helping out, and I... I don’t think you get to hear that enough.”

Despite all the gruesome, awful things that had happened to the world—to  _ everyone _ —over the past couple months, Doug remained one of the last few things that reminded him kindness still existed out there. Lee would have been lying if he’d tried to deny the growing warm feeling in his chest. “Hey,” he said softly, reaching over to place a gentle hand on Doug’s wrist. “That’s really sweet of you, Doug. Thanks.”

It was almost amusing watching Doug try not to break into a grin at the action. “I mean, it’s true! But it’s not a big deal.” And then, with a touch of hesitance, he lifted his other hand to rest it on Lee’s before leaning back with a contented sigh.

“I’ll try not to let it go to my head. Honestly, half the time you don’t even hear a peep out here,” Lee said with a laugh. As he stared out above the trees beyond the motel walls, he added “Pretty clear tonight, though.” 

“Yeah,” came the quiet response from his companion. For a minute or two after that, the two of them simply looked out across the bordering woods. Suddenly, Doug leaned forward in his chair and, with that odd spark he only had when he was asked a question about some obscure topic, said “Hey, Lee, you know any constellations?”

“Uh…” Lee scanned the star-dotted sky for something he recognized before deciding to play it safe. “That one’s the Big Dipper.” 

Doug nodded sagely, as if he’d described an entire galaxy instead of listing the most generic constellation in the sky. “A classic indeed.”

“Honestly, I don’t know a lot of constellations. I never used to spend much time stargazing,” he admitted, shrugging slightly before flashing Doug a playful glance. “You mind teaching me a few?”

Reluctantly, Doug dislodged one of his hands from Lee’s grip to loosely gesture out at the night sky, cautiously saying “Well, I’m no expert,  _ but… _ ” which meant that he still probably had a decent encyclopedia on stars packed away in his brain somewhere. “I think I could pick out one or two tonight.”

Lee watched as Doug stared long and hard at the stars, before finally deciding on something to point out. “Okay, so this one isn’t super easy to see, but if you look down at the horizon-“ he made an odd, tracing gesture across the sky. “That’s Scorpius, which is… Well, it’s a scorpion. I mean, I guess it looks more like a hook, but at least it  _ kind _ of resembles what it’s supposed to be.”

“I think it’s more or less covered by the trees,” from what he could see, though, Lee supposed he understood where they’d gotten “scorpion” from. “But yeah, I can see that. Makes you wonder how people came up with all this stuff—turning a couple of dots in the sky into… I don’t know, a horse or a dragon or something.”

“There’s a lot of mythology behind it, I think, but honestly? I wonder about that too,” Doug said quietly, expression thoughtful. “I’d probably point Orion out next, since he and Scorpius were apparently enemies—you know, mythologically—but I don’t think it’s visible this time of year.”

“That’s a shame,” was all Lee could think to say in response. He shifted a bit in his chair in order to face Doug properly before asking “Where’d you learn all this stuff? Seriously, it’s impressive as hell—It feels like every time I talk to you, I learn something new.”

Doug definitely blushed this time around. “Well, uh, I took an astronomy class in college,” he let out a nervous laugh. “In general, though, from time to time I used to pick up books I had lying around or from a library and just… Y’know, read a new chapter or two if I didn’t have anything else to do. I had stuff on geology, robotics, even a couple cookbooks. It was good for whenever I got bored or if I didn’t want to work on another computer that night or if I was feeling really…” he abruptly trailed off as his face went all troubled. Lee was suddenly reminded of when Doug had first shown up in the motel’s parking lot that night—tired and worried and worn-out. 

This time, it didn’t look like he’d be able to shrug it off again. 

“Actually, I… There was something I wanted to talk to you about.” His voice was down to a whisper by now as he stared at the ground.

“What’s wrong, buddy?” Lee asked gently, giving Doug’s hand a comforting squeeze. 

“Well, uh,” he stammered a little at first, but eventually Doug found the courage to keep going. “I meant to tell you earlier, but… I don’t know. I didn’t want you to worry or anything, and especially not over something like this.”

He slowly looked back up, expression harrowed. “I haven’t really been able to sleep lately. It’s not that I’m having nightmares, necessarily, but whenever I close my eyes I can’t stop thinking about all this awful stuff, like… You know…” 

“The drugstore?” It was no secret just how badly the whole pharmacy incident had affected Doug. Even now, almost two months later, the guilt still seemed to hang heavy on his shoulders. In a way, it had brought him and Lee closer together—but at the same time, it was far from a pleasant memory to talk about. 

“Yeah. Yeah,” Doug’s quiet voice wobbled. “I would try and get a little sleep in during the daytime, because it only really got bad at night, but now that’s not cutting it anymore. I’ve been feeling worse and it’s really starting to show and I-“ he swallowed hard before hesitantly continuing with “I just don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”

A look of regret flickered across his face, and before Lee could say a word Doug frantically added “Oh, I… I’m sorry, Lee, I shouldn’t have brought this up. This isn’t that big of a deal, really, I-“

“Doug, you don’t have to apologize,” Lee cut him off firmly. For a moment he had to stop, thinking hard about what to say next. “Just because you don’t think it’s a big deal doesn’t mean that it doesn’t matter.”

Faltering slightly, Doug let out a sigh. “It just feels wrong to complain about losing a couple night’s sleep when there are so many other bad things that could be happening right now.”

“It’s not your fault, okay? And… I’m glad that you said something instead of letting it go. That’s gotta mean something, right?” Even then, he couldn’t help but feel a little clumsy with his reassurances. A physical injury was simple enough to deal with most of the time—but how was he supposed to tell Doug he’d be alright when he couldn’t even  _ sleep _ from all the guilt he felt?

As it turns out, he didn’t have to—because at that moment a gruff shout of “The hell are you two  _ doing _ up there?” had them both bolting to their feet in surprise. 

Lee whipped around to find Kenny standing at the foot of the RV, arms crossed. Even in the dark of night, he could practically feel his sharp stare on the two of them.

“Jesus christ, Kenny, quiet down a little,” Lee hissed, worriedly glancing from side to side.

“I kinda have to speak up when you’re chatterin’ up a storm out here,” despite the usual roughness of Kenny’s voice, there was an almost questioning hint to it, which was a solid indicator that he hadn’t actually heard a word of their conversation. He turned his focus to Doug, who was half-leaning on the folding chair at his side as if worried he’d fall off the RV. “And Doug, could you not sleep or something?”

“Yeah. Something like that,” Doug said nervously, as his grip on the chair grew ever tighter. At least it wasn’t a lie—in all honesty, Doug was even worse of a liar than Lee was.

Kenny let out a long-suffered sigh. “Look, I’m just out here to tell you that your shift’s over. It’s not like you to forget, Lee.” 

“And you’re not usually this eager for night watch either,” Lee shot back, but there was no real bite to his words, and any force it could have had was dulled by his own genuine surprise over losing track of the time. Not willing to start an arbitrary argument, however, he went to climb down the RV’s ladder. Doug was quick to follow after he hastily folded the chair he’d been using in order to take it back down with him.

A simple, acknowledging nod was all Lee had to give to Kenny before he and Doug started toward the motel’s doors in silence, not daring to say anything to each other as they crossed the parking lot, then the rattling staircase to the second floor, then the creaking, decaying floorboards of the deck. It was only when they’d reached the door to Doug’s room when the two of them paused, and Lee whispered “... You sure you’ll be fine?” It was hard for him not to still be concerned.

“I’ll be okay for tonight, Lee,” Doug managed a half-smile that at least looked mostly sincere. “Thanks for listening to me. It really… It really meant a lot,” he met Lee’s eyes for a fleeting moment. “And, uh, I had a blast stargazing with you.”

“Me too. You’re gonna have to show me some more constellations next time,” Lee relaxed at the sight of his smile. “You let me know if you need anything, alright?”

“I’ll keep it in mind,” Hesitantly, and not without a quick glance around, Doug raised his hand to hold Lee’s own in a clumsy-yet-warm embrace. “See you tomorrow.”

A crooked grin flickered across Lee’s face and, before he could allow himself to freeze up at the thought, he pressed a gentle kiss to Doug’s forehead. 

“Goodnight, Doug.”

The radiant look on his face alone made it absolutely worth it. 


End file.
